News

Just when we were lulled back to normal

By: Tunua Thrash-Ntuk (Executive Director of LISC Los Angeles)

First, our heart and sincere condolences are with the family of George Floyd. A nation mourns with you. We watched as a handcuffed, unarmed Black man in Minneapolis lost his life. The shock of this is overwhelming and to have happened in the middle of a pandemic only adds to the trauma.

Let’s just say it, there is real pain that words have a hard time soothing at the moment and have left so many feeling angry, powerless and helpless.

But we are not. In countless communities for countless hours, Americans assembled peacefully based on a belief in our shared humanity and a demand that this be recognized as the way we treat and love one another.

At the risk of giving too much life to opportunistic protestors, this tragedy must be more than a conversation about who looted what and where. We must move beyond the distractions and get busy addressing the long-term and systematic inequities that plague our communities.

There is a jigsaw puzzle of proven solutions out there to pursue including education as a poverty alleviator, quality job access, accessible healthcare, community policing and capital access via community development financial institutions (CDFIs), like LISC. CDFIS were established in response to a need to move money to people and places that need it most.

We will continue to take action and ask that you join us in the following endeavors to:

  • Increase efficacy in community ownership. Now is the time to build new models of ownership in business, housing and community thereby helping people feel rooted in the mutual success of our neighborhoods; See LISC LA’s employee ownership and economic inclusion work.
  • Cast an economic future where all thrive. With unemployment at 20%+ in greater Los Angeles, it is more important than ever to create pathways to stable, middle-wage sector jobs to stabilize families. See LISC LA’s Financial Opportunity Center work.
  • See LISC’s work in safety and justice. At LISC we believe that safety is fundamental to the health and vitality of communities. The breach in relations between police and many of the communities they serve—particularly communities of color—are among some of the greatest challenges facing contemporary American society. Acknowledge and repair the broken compact between the people and police.

Just when we were lulled back to normal, if even at all possible during a pandemic, this tragedy has reminded us that we will not and should not return to a status quo.